Rats notes ‘n quotes: Hershey led for less than 30 minutes

ALBANY — In the four-game series, the Bears led for a total 29 minutes, 39 seconds (4:25 Game 1; 20:39 Game 2; :00 Game 3; 3:35 Game 4). The Rats led for 106 minutes, 18 seconds (15:10 Game 1; 3:48 Game 2; 42:43 Game 3; 34:37 Game 4). Given those stats, it was hard to believe that Hershey won in a sweep. … At the end of regulation, AHL vice president of communications Jason Chaimovitch sent along a note listing players on each team who had scored overtime winners in the playoffs. Hershey had eight: LW Alexandre Giroux (4), C Keith Aucoin, C Andrew Joudrey, C Kyle Wilson and C Jay Beagle (the latter two in earlier games of this series). Albany had none. Playoff experience in overtime had to be worth something.

The Rats sat D Casey Borer for a second straight game to get Zack FitzGerald into the lineup. They also kept LW Brad Herauf active, but benched C Stefan Chaput and reinserted C Jacob Micflikier. … Hershey welcomed back its defense tandem of John Carlson and Karl Alzner. Carlson took a team-high six shots (RW Andrew Gordon also had six) and set up Hershey’s third goal.

On trying to regroup heading into overtime: “It was deflating the way that happened. We tried to stay positive. That was over and done with. We had to regroup. That was the theme before the game, to stay the course. No matter what happened, keep going forward. That was the situation, where we couldn’t sit back. We had to keep going forward. They kept coming after us, and we were back on our heels, and before you know it, it’s in the back of our net.”

On losing three series games in overtime: “It’s very frustrating. We were that close. You were there. We just couldn’t find a way to finish it off. The leads that we had all four games just didn’t seem good enough. They’re a great team. That’s something that we’ve got to learn going into next year, just the way that they control their emotions throughout the game and don’t get too low when they’re down goals. They keep coming at you, and they find a way to win. It’s a good, veteran group of players out there. They show no panic, and that’s something we can learn from.”

On the overall season: “I mentioned to them, for the guys who were here last year, we talked about competing every single night. We did that this year and got ourselves in the playoffs. Now you take that into next year for the guys who will be here, the level that you need to bring your game up come playoff time, and try and stay even keel and finish off games. As tough as it is now, they can look back, and there are a lot of things they can be proud of this year, the way they came together as a team. The young guys, you look back to where they were in October to where they are now, I thought they made some big strides about being a pro. As I told the older guys, they set the example every single day, both off and on the ice, by leading this team. It made our job easier at times.”

On the postgame salute: “That’s hanging over the heads of a lot of guys here who will moving on next year to Charlotte. We have a lot of guys here who have been here for a couple of years and grown accustomed to the area and meeting people outside the game and enjoyed their time here. It was a thank you to the fans who have been so good to this team, especially for the two years that I’ve been here, and a thank you for them for all their support throughout the year.”

HERSHEY COACH MARK FRENCH

“Any time you win a playoff series, you’re pleased. As a coach there are always areas of concern. Last game I thought it was loose, and this game was very loose defensively. I’m happy with our resolve and our ability to come back and the character, and we’re happy that we got the series win here.”

“The message in overtime is that we didn’t need to trade chances, we didn’t need to go out and play the firewagon hockey that we saw a little bit today. If we could find our way through the neutral zone – we turned over the puck way too much in that area – get it deep and play an offensive zone play … That’s what we did so effectively in Game 3. We didn’t do as much of that, and we did that in the overtime, and that’s how the winner resulted.”

“They did a good job keepin us on the perimeter. We had some zone time, but Peters was able to see a lot of the shots tonight. They did a good job keeping us outside the dots, and I don’t know if we particularly fought hard to get inside.

On the line of Perreault-Bourque-Beagle: “They all have elite-level speed, especially Perreault and Bourque. Jay is more of your energy, grinder-type guy that keeps plays alive. In the first round against Bridgeport, they were OK, but the Aucoin line carried us. This series, if you look at the season numbers, Chris Bourque and Matt Perreault had very good season records points-wise against Albany, and I thought they were the difference in this series.”

RATS RW JEROME SAMSON

On trying to regroup heading into overtime: “It wasn’t any tougher than the other games. During the four games, I think three of them we were up in the third period and let the lead go at the end. There’s not much to say about that. It’s just another period.”

On Hershey’s comebacks: “We knew they’re a big offensive team. They’ve got a lot of skill guys. If we could have kept them to three goals a game, we would have been fine, but you can’t win a game allowing five, six, four games a game. It’s tough to give that many goals, especially for us. We haven’t been a real offensive team all year. We were relying on our defensive side of things. It’s just not going to happen trying to win games 6-5.”

RATS D BRYAN RODNEY

On regrouping heading into overtime: “We did a good job. We weren’t fazed. In this series it has happened to us a few times. It’s tough a goal to give up, a tough two goals to give up. We were clear-headed when we went out for overtime, and I thought it was our night where we were going to get that bounce. It just didn’t happen.”

RATS G JUSTIN PETERS

“Overtime games are close, but a loss is a loss. It’s really disappointing right now. It hurts a lot to have things to come to an end like that, especially with the lead. Before we had the leads in the third period, we had the lead tonight with four minutes left. It hurts that much more.”

On the game-winning goal: “The guy was coming wide. I don’t know how the guy to my right ended up with the puck. I really don’t know. All of a sudden the puck ended up on his stick, and he threw it in the back of the net.”

HERSHEY C MATHIEU PERREAULT

“We’re just a clutch team, I guess. We needed two goals and we got it. It’s unreal what this team can do.”

“If you there’s a team you don’t want to play run and gun against, it’s against us. We’ve got the weapons to put it in the back of the net. For sure, they had nothing to lose and we maybe came out a little bit soft. We battled back and it’s a great feeling.”

HERSHEY LW CHRIS BOURQUE

On third-period comebacks: “W never got down when they were up one or up two or anything.”

“That shows right there the will that this team has to win. That comes with experience, too. Guys won a championship last year. We know what to do when we’re in tight situations. We don’t panic.”